Friday, January 26, 2007

Time Magazine's Photo Distortions -- More on Propaganda & Psy War

Time Magazine is probably not as expert in psy war tricks as is the BBC [discussed in earlier posts], but Time's photo editors are no slouches in this trade. The 12-18-06 issue of Time was a year end photo special. It supposedly featured the best, most significant pix of the year. Only three photos in this issue dealt with Israel, all three concerned the summer's Israel-Hizbullah war. Two were of destruction in civilian areas of Lebanon and injury to civilians in the war. The third, the only one to show Israelis, was of the funeral of an Israeli soldier. What's the message? In Lebanon civilians suffered. In Israel soldiers were killed.

In this issue of Time [12-18-2006], "Best Photos of 2006" on the cover, we read on page 3,

"Time presents a selection of the most compelling images of 2006, from ruination in Beirut to rebirth in New Orleans; the ifs and buts of Germany's World Cup; stem cells up close; and above, the real O.C."

So Time makes it seem like "the ruination of Beirut" was the most significant event of the year. In fact, little damage was done in Beirut outside Hizbullah strongholds like the dahiyah of Haret Hreik, where Hizbullah had its headquarters in underground bunkers. Then, on page 15, Time lets us know how much the rag fundamentally hates Jews. We read under the heading "Rethinking History":

Holocaust skeptic and Iranian Prez Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has invited scholars from 30 nations to a conference this week in Teheran to debate issues like whether the Nazis used gas chambers.

Some might want to believe that Time was merely being tongue-in-cheek. But the Holocaust was an event that forbids tongue-in-cheek humor. Time is read worldwide, whereas millions of people in Iran and other Muslim countries --especially Arab lands-- not to mention some people in the West, already have a built-in prejudice against acknowledging the reality of the mass murder of six million Jews, and millions of other people. Nor would Time use an irreverent tongue-in-cheek approach to the Hague war crimes tribunal, for example [which is solemnly praised], nor would Time use that approach against a Communist-organized international gathering. When Castro held his propaganda congresses in Havana, did Time treat these events with anything less than open contempt? In the case of the Holocaust, however, Ahmadinejad is called merely a "skeptic." He is identified in a friendly way as "Prez." And those he invited are not fanatic haters of Jews. Rather they are described as "scholars" who are going to "debate issues."When it comes to up to date Nazis, like the Hizbullah --and here there is a wealth of documentation of Nazi-like utterances by the Hizbullah press and leadership (seldom published in the USA), plus its subservient relationship to the Teheran Nazis-- Time tries to portray them in a soft, rosey light.

This description does not mention Hizbuallah's Nazi-like ideology regarding Jews, nor that it is terrorist, nor even that it bombed to death about 250 American marines in Beirut in 1982 [when it was called "Party of God," the translation of its Arabic name].On p 46, Time features a photo of what is captioned as: "An injured Lebanese boy seeks comfort from his mother. An Israeli rocket hit their van as they fled through the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon." Then, in Israel, instead of scenes of destruction in civilian areas and of civilian deaths, we are shown a two-page spread [pp 50-51] of a soldier's funeral. "Here his family grieves during his funeral in Haifa." The message seems double. Israel is a destructive force causing suffering in Lebanon, while some Israeli soldiers died, not protecting their own country and Israel's civilian population, but harming Lebanon. Hence, Israelis should not serve in their army.On the other hand, in order to defuse potential critics, Time publishes some text confirming Israel's positions:

It started as morning rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel, a distraction [p 46]

for kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. Time also describes in text the ruins in Haret Hreik [al-Dahiyah], as ". . . what remains of a neighborhood, a Hizballah stronghold" [pp 48-49]. The problem is that the picture conveys the main message to most people, not to the more sophisticated or better informed perhaps, but to most folks. The picture is clearly of a ruined civilian urban area. The word "stronghold" has too many meanings to fully convey the reality. "Stronghold" could refer to an area where a certain political party has overwhelming strength among voters in elections. "Stronghold" does not convey that the underground command bunkers of a terrorist army were located beneath the streets and buildings.- - - - - - - - -Good News on the Archeological Front בשורות טובות

Biblical minimalists ought to be troubled by recent discoveries in the City of David area of Jerusalem near the Shiloah Pool. The discoveries do not directly concern what Jews consider the Biblical period, rather they are from the Second Temple period. Tunnels have been discovered near the Shiloah Pool that apparently served as hiding places for Jewish warriors and civilians as the Romans were conquering Jerusalem and destroying the Temple. The findings confirm Josephus Flavius' account of Jews hiding in tunnels as the Roman legions and their allies [including Arabs] conquered Jerusalem in the year 70 CE. The findings include intact objects/artifacts, as well as the virtually intact tunnels. Films of the tunnels and some artifacts were shown on Israel TV [Channel One] on 1-24-2007. The findings do not confirm our Hebrew Scriptures but rather Josephus' account of the Jewish War. However, the minimalists ought to ask themselves how this elaborate, well-developed culture in Judea [IVDAEA] came to be without earlier centuries of Israelite/Jewish civilization leading up to it. Here is a quote from Tacitus' account of how Arab auxiliary troops helped the Roman conquerors.- - - - - - -Coming: more on peace follies, Jews in Jerusalem, archeological discoveries, propaganda techniques, etc.

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The world swims in lies. Who doesn't know that? Even the dupes are told there are lies about. We aim to dispel the fog of lies, especially about Israel, like our prophets of old and our poets like Yehudah haLevi.
We feature historic sources, documents, excerpts from the classics, etc.
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, While yet
Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?
The false prophets cry Peace, and there is no peace.
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About Me

צלום דבורה בת יהודה לייב ז''ל
Dvoyreh bas Yehudah Leyb, Eliyahu's mother. My own photo will have to await more peaceful times.
I have been an observer of
the human comedy, and the human tragedy for many years.